How to Enhance Color in Dull Nighttime Photographs (VIDEO)
Nighttime can be the right time for capturing impressive outdoor photographs, when boring scenes often take on a magical appearance. But there’s a challenge to overcome as the light dims, because so do the colors in a shot.
This problem is particularly acute when landscape photography is the name of the game, because there are no bright colorful elements in the darkness like there is when shooting on the street where car trails, neon signs, and illuminated buildings add some much-needed punch.
Photographer Christian Mohrle is an accomplished German landscape pro based in the south of the country near beautiful Lake Constance. In today’s 15-minute episode you’ll see how he restores pretty colors to images captured in low light.
The demonstration photo was captured after sunset and the colors are more muted than he desires. But watch how he employs a few Lightroom techniques to create a beautiful image that retains a very realistic look. You can download the sample Raw file with a link in the description beneath the video and make Mohrle’s changes yourself as the tools and techniques are described.
Mohrle’s post-processing workflow always follows a predetermined strategy that progresses in a specific sequence. First he chooses the best Lightroom profile for the photo at hand, before making several simple global adjustments to create the best possible base image from which to continue.
Only then does the real magic occur as Mohrle turns to dramatic selective enhancements targeting specific areas within the frame that each require fine-tuning of their own. When all that’s accomplished Mohrle completes his remarkable transformations with thoughtful color grading, subtle sharpening, denoise if necessary, and a bit of final cleanup to remove any artifacts or small distractions that gum up the works.
Once you follow today’s straightforward steps and view Mohrle’s before/after images you may want to update your everyday workflow accordingly to bring life to every landscape photo you capture from dawn to dusk.
All landscape photographers owe it to themselves to visit Mohrle’s instructional YouTube channel on a regular basis. If you do, the quality of the images you capture will grow by leaps and bounds.
And on a related note, we recommend watching the tutorial we featured with another top landscape photographer who demonstrates a singular in-camera technique for enhancing weak outdoor photographs.
